The costimulatory signals CD28 and B7 have been shown to control tumor invasion and metastasis by regulating T cell activation, whereas the distribution characteristics of B7-associated proteins in laryngeal carcinoma (LC) tissue are still unclear. Here, the expression of members of the B7 superfamily, including B7-H1 (PD-L1), B7-DC (PD-L2) and B7-H4, in fifty-two LC samples was determined by i...

During periods of active DNA replication and chromatin assembly, newly synthesized histone H4 is deposited in a diacetylated form. In Tetrahymena, a specific pair of residues, lysines 4 and 11, has been shown to undergo this modification in vivo (Chicoine, L. G., Schulman, I. G., Richman, R., Cook, R. G., and Allis, C. D. (1986) J. Biol. Chem. 261, 1071-1076). Presumably, this reaction is catal...

Holocarboxylase synthetase catalyzes the covalent binding of biotin to histones in humans and other eukaryotes. Eleven biotinylation sites have been identified in histones H2A, H3, and H4. K12-biotinylated histone H4 is enriched in heterochromatin, repeat regions, and plays a role in gene repression. About 30% of the histone H4 molecules are biotinylated at K12 in histone H4 in human fibroblast...

B7-H4 (B7x, B7S1, VTCN1, DD-0110) is a member of the B7 superfamily that negatively regulates T cell responses.1 In addition, B7-H4 expression is increased on tumors and has been shown to be a negative prognostic marker for many cancers.2 Unexpectedly our recent study demonstrated that B7-H4 inhibited tumor growth and was required to promote effective antitumor responses.3.

In this issue of Cell, English et al. present the first crystal structure of a histone chaperone (Asf1) bound to histones (the H3/H4 heterodimer). The structure provides insights into how histone chaperones participate in nucleosome disassembly. It reveals that Asf1 physically blocks (H3/H4)(2) tetramer formation and that the C terminus of H4 undergoes a dramatic conformational change upon bind...

Escherichia coli O104:H4 was associated with a severe foodborne disease outbreak originating in Germany in May 2011. More than 4000 illnesses and 50 deaths were reported. The outbreak strain was a typical enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC) that acquired an antibiotic resistance plasmid and a Shiga-toxin 2 (Stx2)-encoding bacteriophage. Based on whole-genome phylogenies, the O104:H4 strain was mos...

Mortierella alpina was transformed successfully to hygromycin B resistance by using a homologous histone H4 promoter to drive gene expression and a homologous ribosomal DNA region to promote chromosomal integration. This is the first description of transformation in this commercially important oleaginous organism. Two pairs of histone H3 and H4 genes were isolated from this fungus. Each pair co...

B7-H4 is a newly identified B7 homolog that plays an important role in maintaining T-cell homeostasis by inhibiting T-cell proliferation and lymphokine-secretion. In this study, we investigated the signal transduction pathways inhibited by B7-H4 engagement in mouse T cells. We found that treatment of CD3(+) T cells with a B7-H4.Ig fusion protein inhibits anti-CD3 elicited T-cell receptor (TCR)/...

BACKGROUND Recently, some studies were performed to evaluate the relevance of B7-H4 and gastric cancer (GC) prognosis. However, the results remained controversial. Therefore, we performed the present meta-analysis. MATERIAL AND METHODS We performed a systematic search in PubMed and Web of Science databases. All data were extracted and reviewed from each eligible study independently by 2 investi...

Newly synthesized histones H3 and H4 undergo a cascade of maturation steps to achieve proper folding and to establish post-translational modifications prior to chromatin deposition. Acetylation of H4 on lysines 5 and 12 by the HAT1 acetyltransferase is observed late in the histone maturation cascade. A key question is to understand how to establish and regulate the distinct timing of sequential...